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As I write this, it has been almost 40 hours since I consumed anything but raw milk and water. I am still alive. No stomach pains, no headaches, no indications to tell me that this hotly debated food item has damaged me in any way, the fact is, I feel completely nourished and as normal as I would any morning at 10:30 AM. I am not starving for food, but getting hungry, I have normal amounts of energy and I am in a good mood. From all the anti- raw milk campaigns out there, you would think at this point I would be in a hospital bed somewhere, or at the very least, having a case of the runs. I even had dental surgery yesterday, so I guess I did in fact consume Novocaine, but even with all that, I am feeling A-OK.

I took a little break, and am now eating some lunch, my first meal since the fast. I had to think a little. Fasting for ideological reasons is something I have never done before and I wanted to understand for myself why I felt so compelled this time. I am no stranger to activism. I have been to numerous protests in my life, I have gone out of my own comfort zone to assist and to help those who are fighting their own battles and needed help with chores and daily life . Being an activist, especially when you are fighting for your life and livelihood is a full time job because without your life and livelihood, well, you can take it from there in your own head. In the past I have been an activist for large global issues, and issues that impact others strongly, although not much direct impact on me. But this time, with raw milk, it really hit home.

Dear friends of ours are raw milk (among other things) farmers and I drink their milk every day. If that wasn’t enough of a reason to get involved, there is also this crazy idea, a dream of ours to produce and sell dairy products, like cheese, and fresh dairy, like yogurt, kefir and buttermilk, things that have been nourishing our bodies for the past several years, and which we rely on heavily for our continued health. But you know what? I am scared to death to begin a business like this in the US. Land of the Free, my… I have had to ask myself many times these past months, is it worth it? Maybe I should just make it for our own consumption and not sell it to others. I don’t want to do jail time over cheese and milk, as so many others have. Artisan products, like raw milk cheeses and other products have been under attack by the FDA for months here in the US. If you don’t believe me, check out this, this and this.

In a world where small family dairies can be put through that, and yet cigarettes are sold at every gas station, GMOs are not labeled despite the fact that 80% of Americans are asking for labeling practices, where ground meat is sold in stores with ammonia in it and Cargill can poison thousands with salmonella contaminated food, and yet remain in business with a slap on the hand, and a VOLUNTARY recall, all the arguments about raw milk laws and safety are “udderly” ridiculous and completely unconvincing. It is about money friends, not safety. Who benefits from not allowing people to eat healthy nourishing foods but large food corps, and dare I say pharmaceutical companies gaining off the sickness of our nation. I am sorry but the masses are not sick and overweight and getting diabetes from drinking raw milk. It is also about our freedom and health. To read more about these discrepancies between small farms and large food corps and “food safety”, this is a great article.

“The Cargill recall and Rawesome raid provide a glaring example of the problems with our food system. Cargill had known that its factory had salmonella – it just hadn’t reached actionable levels, they thought. One person died and dozens became ill before Cargill initiated a voluntary recall.Compare that to what happened at Rawesome, [where] not one person has ever claimed to have gotten sick…the government came in with armed officials, confiscated tens of thousands of dollars’ worth of food, and put three people in jail.” ~ Judith McGeary, Esq

I am an empath. It is all too easy for me to imagine myself in someone else’s shoes, so often times people may think I get too emotional over certain subjects, especially when they don’t involve me, directly. But I don’t see the world that way, to me we are a holistic whole. Each little issue a microcosm of the whole. My reality is I see no difference between a man I have never met, Michael Schmidt, and our friends down the road who feed us, care about the health of others and do the best they can to supply healthy foods to their community, providing a service, a labor of love. They have family and friends that support them and many customers. They are just like Michael Schmidt. When we stand up against one person’s injustice, we stand up for all of those we love and care about.

So who is Michael Schmidt? Michael is a dairy farmer in Ontario, Canada. He has been providing safe and highly nutritious raw milk to informed buyers who have consented to purchase his product. The Canadian government has made it illegal for him to sell the milk and he just entered his 4th week of a hunger strike (consuming nothing but water). All he wants, a personal one-on-one chat about raw milk policies in Canada with the Premier, Dalton McGuinty. One talk and the strike will end. Michael has been fighting with the Canadian government for years, and it has come down to this. All he wants is to be heard. The people of Canada have rallied behind Mr. Schmidt, calling out to Mr. McGuinty to speak with him. Isn’t this why we elect officials, for them to execute the will of the people? I think it is time for Mr. McGuinty to do his job.

Lest you think this is all about raw milk, let me tell you, raw milk is the tip of the iceberg in the land of food freedom and food freedom fighters. It is about upholding that right which is yours, inherently to consume the foods you want. Raw milk is just the hot topic these days; it is the issue on the battle field. Last year it was NAIS (National Animal Identification System) and the Food Safety Modernization Act and maybe next year it will be fighting Monsanto on the issue of saving seeds. When you see all the “food” in the grocery stores, products lining the aisles full of additives, preservatives and chemicals, and these products are sanctioned by the government and regulatory branches, it just tells you that the government cares very little for the health and safety of the people. When you see them going through such pains and efforts to destroy small farms and businesses, you begin to understand what a threat they see these farms and food producers to their bottom line. This is not about safety, it is about money.

I don’t want to hear one more word from the government about world hunger until they start letting farmers feed people again. Most farmers sell GMO corn and soybeans, that don’t even feed people, mostly because they can earn a better living wage, and there are not so many restrictions. That is unimaginable.

It just makes you think…We just returned from a family trip back to Roberto’s Homeland, Sardinia. Sardinia is in the midst of a beautiful revitalization. The government wants people to continue sheep and goat farming; the government encourages young people to continue its ancient traditions and livelihoods. There are programs, and monies given to people who want to start a farm, take over an old one, and make cheese and other farm products or to start an Agro-Turismo. Look at that in comparison to prospects here in North America. Places where you need teams of lawyers, and armed guards (well maybe not that extreme yet) to make farm fresh products and sell them to your neighbors, friends and community without ending up in jail.

I really don’t want to get into all the legalities, because at the end of the day feeding yourself, growing food, and choosing what you put in your body is our birthright and we have been executing that right for millennia. It is an inalienable right (not a privilege)as a human being that should never come into question. Sometimes our government officials forget this, and so we have to be there to remind them and defend that right, lest they try to take it away. What you choose to eat has nothing to do with government, and clearly it shouldn’t as they have done a great dis-service to us where we have allowed them power. Many of the things they do regulate and approve for human consumption, like food and drugs kill people every day. Raw milk does not kill people every day.Even if that were not true, and all food they approve is safe, sometimes laws need to be changed. Raw milk laws may be out-dated. They started in a time where more and more people moved to cities and brought their animals to the cities too, and sold milk in open air containers in filthy streets. Maybe these laws need to be re-evaluated before people start losing their lives over outdated laws.

And if you think raw milk is not safe, check this out: “Using government figures for foodborne illness for the entire population, Dr. Beals has shown that you are about thirty-five thousand times more likely to get sick from other foods than you are from raw milk,” click here for the rest of the article .

Keep fighting the good fight Micahel! We support you! We have your back!

Delighted that you’re sharing the story of this Canadian farmer holding the torch for raw milk. The stats used to justify the Cdn. government’s objections are outdated – from when sanitation issues were likely causes of illness – not the raw milk. I want the option of raw milk.

Well put Jenn! I wasn’t sure what the whole situation was but after reading this, I really am questioning just “how organic” is the organic milk that I buy and what else is in the food products at the local grocery store.

Raw milk should be a right not a privelage. Its so hard to find good raw products where I live. Looking for tomorrows wholesome meal has turned into a full time job. I’m one book away from living in a bubble.

You’re so right. Its horrifying that we can walk into a 7-11 buy a 40, a pack of smokes and some twinkies but consuming raw milk is taboo/illegal. What would our anscestors think? The food situation is a hot mess. I’m always so annoyed when people say “who cares about food.” The same people are usually outraged when they get cancer or heart disease. If you are what you eat, do you really want to be an ammonia packed whopper?

You are so right on everything Jenn! I wasn’t aware this was going on in Canada and in the US. I grew up with friends that owned a farm and I drank plenty of raw milk directly from the cows (we did some of the milking and what was more fun then to drink it right away while still warm) and I’m still alive. I guess it’s worse in the US then it is here, although I feel that more and more those standards are seeping in here too. And that is not a good thing for the most part! I hope Michael is heard!

Thank you for this. I am only just beginning to learn about this issue after we pissed off a farmer by saying his cheese was raw milk cheese instead of fresh milk cheese, an innocent mistake, I thought, until I suffered his wrath and realized I’d better learn why the “raw” word was a dirty one in his mind. Thus began my education! Reading David Gumpert has helped a lot in understanding just what is going on. For me, I’m trying to figure out how to talk to the people I know about it in a way that they can relate to, being less interested in local food than I am. I wrote this http://local.farmersmarket.com/blog/localvore-local-lore/no-its-not-about-raw-milk-its-about-control-choice-and-local-food to see if that got through to them… not yet. Thank you for your eloquent and appropriately hard-hitting article!

Amen, Sister. I needed to read this and be reminded of what I believe. I live in the suburbs, home of the processed food trail. I eat raw cheese, never had raw milk, hate the big food companies that put out junk and call it food.

Jenn, once again you inspire us to take a stand for our food rights. I know you’re supporting a cause here, but that’s an inspiration for a lot of us and I thank you for that. Let’s fight for our freedom!

Just an FYI, Michael Schmidt, along with Joel Salatin and other raw milk activists will be at a protest at the United States FDA on Tuesday November 1st. Mothers will be purchasing raw milk at the farm the FDA raided earlier in the year, and driving it across state lines where they will distribute the milk to those in attendance (including the FDA). There will even be cookies to tempt those in the FDA to come out of their building. You can read more about it at http://www.rawmilkfreedomriders.com (also a blog post I published today which is along the lines of yours at http://healthyfoodnaturally.wordpress.com/2011/10/27/pure-food-how-fare-we-have-fallen/

It’s nice to see your post being picked up by the Bovine blog and also being shared around on Facebook.

As a fellow Vermonter, sometimes I wonder why I am so worked up about this issue – since we DO have legal access to raw milk here and I’m thankful for that. But, you know what, I’m angry that we can’t get raw cream and butter from the same farm that we trust to provide our raw milk. I’m angry that we need to drive over an hour each way to pick up our milk each week, because there aren’t more raw milk farms out there. I’m angry that the huge confinement dairy that I drive past everyday got over $100,000 in government subsidies last year, and I know our raw milk farmers are barely scraping by. And I’m angry that people actually think I’m harming my children by giving them raw milk.

I wish you all the best in your farming endeavors. We need more brave farmers out there providing real food (who knew that farmers would ever need to be “brave”). And it’s also so important that you and others are writing about this and trying to educate people on the issues of food rights and raw milk safety. Thanks and keep up the good work!

Your speaking up for Michael is much appreciated. I understand an organic farm does not have the pathogens around that the feedlot/confinement farms have, so this really reduces risk of contamination. We are always bearing the people’s uncertainty that the worst industrial money-grabbing type operations bring on.
I grew up on a moderate sized modern dairy farm with milk tank and milking parlour. An interesting story is that every 2 weeks we transported our raw milk in jugs to my grandfather 100 miles away, but once when we had to skip a trip, my grandfather still had some of the raw milk left at the end of 4 weeks. It wasn’t even sour. Anyway, even if it had gone sour, it would have been quite safe to consume, unlike pasteurized milk “gone sour” = gone rotten!

We used to buy milk directly from the dairy when I was a choild and I am still here to tell the tale. I have been reading too many articles lately about our likelihood of contacting superbugs because of our over pastuerized and sanitized world.

Because I live in a part of the country where raw milk (and cheese) consumption is somewhat normal, I forget how antiquated the philosophies around it are in the rest of the country. A local small farm my sister used to purchase from in Ohio has been raided and shut down a couple of times now, all over grass fed beef and raw milk it is selling directly into the community instead of into the stores. I have never considered myself a particularly political person, but everyday I am reading more and more that makes me even less happy with the way politics are ruining our basic lives. Thank you for helping to educate your readers by writing well-educated, timely posts about something that should matter to all of us.

I do not eat raw products (much) myself, because I do believe in the benefit of pasteurization to prevent disease. BUT I am totally with you and I totally support the right of informed adults to balance the risks and payoffs of food items like raw milk and cheese and decide what is right for themselves and their family.

I have a good friend who chooses raw milk for her family, and our other friends think she is some kind of a horrible mother because of it. I totally do not agree. She has balanced the risks in her mind and feels it is a healthier choice. No one says anything when parents feed their ultra-overweight children McDonalds every day, or when people smoke which is proven to cause disease, or when people make other questionable food choices for themselves and their families, I don’t understand why a raw milk choice carries such stigma. We need to change this in our society.

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Thank you so much for all your comments. I enjoy reading each and every single one of them. Please keep them coming because I do appreciate the feedback and I apologize that I can't respond to everyone individially. See you in the blogosphere!